Lin
Joined: 28 Oct 2002
Posts: 337
Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2003 5:57 am Post subject: Inspections
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Whenever a pt. voices a concern about dialysis units others jump in and say things like: "units are inspected on a regular basis" and "they are controlled by the state they are in" "why are you worrying?" ect.. When I had a pyrogenic reaction it was downplayed by the staff; they ignored my requests for information, and it was actually my neph. who filled in the blanks. Why worry? Read the ap article below:<
>www.bayarea.com/mld/mercu...368087.htm<
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>EL SEGUNDO, Calif. - At least seven people have been hospitalized and a dozen more became ill after contracting infections at dialysis centers in three Southern California counties, officials said.<
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>The infection out
eaks occurred between May and November, and involved various types of bacteria and yeast. Symptoms of infection include nausea, fever and dizziness.<
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>No one has died and at least one person remained hospitalized this week.<
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>The centers are owned by Davita, one of the largest providers of dialysis services nationwide with nearly 500 locations. The El Segundo-based company said in a statement that it was cooperating with health inspectors and there have been no other cases of infection.<
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>"The affected patients have been successfully treated with antibiotics and anti-microbial agents, as necessary," the statement said. "We feel confident that the suspected problem has been addressed."<
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>State and county health officials, who play a role in oversight of dialysis centers, have found violations and ordered the company to fix the problems relating to the out
eaks.<
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>Several infections involving the bacteria Stenotrophomonas maltophila were discovered by Los Angeles County health officials at the Norwalk Dialysis Center. The infections may have been transmitted through a dialysis machine filter, which the center had been reusing for multiple patients, officials said.<
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>Other centers involved are the Covina Dialysis Center in West Covina, the Mission Dialysis Center in Chula Vista and the Santa Ana Dialysis Center in Santa Ana.<
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>Dialysis machines remove blood from patients whose kidneys no longer filter impurities. The machines cleanse the blood and reintroduce it into the patient. Many of the patients would die without the treatments and infections can complicate their conditions.<
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>The inspection of Davita's centers comes after a report this month by the U.S. General Accounting Office that found serious lapses in quality in dialysis facilities nationally.<
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>The federal agency determined that only nine states consistently met federal regulations to inspect one-third of their centers annually. Of 4,011 facilities nationwide, 216 went nine or more years without an inspection.<
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Say
Joined: 15 Mar 2003
Posts: 2
Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2003 6:16 am Post subject: Inspections
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>All those nay sayers have to do is get a copy of their own inspections. AS we have stated all along, that the inspections in most states are not adequate. You send in nursing home surveyors with a sheet that tells them what to work on. CMS gives them little training courses,but they still do not understand dialysis enough to be effective. Remember that most experience nurses do it for 6 months or longer to even be effective. Dialysis is the machine and understanding what is going on and what the treatment sheets are telling them. NOw add into the equasion that nothing is written in charts that is damaging to the company, those are written on incident reports that are given to risk management. Surveyors only are seeing a small fraction of what goes on. Now is a patient is harmed on the treatment either by error and the patient dies, the clinic does not have to report the accident to anyone. In the beginning we had to call the state with the patients name and the incident to be investigated. Other wise it was not reported. They dont have to.<
>Surveys are only as effective as with the experience level of the inspector.<
>Many patients are in denial, and are the ones who fall through the cracks. You need to be aware of accidents that involve other patients, and report the patients name and what happened to the Dept of Health anonymously, or call us to do it. <
>When we started DEO, we were condemed and the patients were told we were trouble makers and that we werent telling the truth. Guess what, we were and patients are aware of how to protect themselves better. WE were right and the GAO report states it all. The only issue is the nay sayers are only interested in a belief system that is deadly. Educate yourselves and we are making a difference and changes for all patients will soon be realized. Not the easy ones, but the ones that will save your life and allow you to question freely without fear of retaliation. We are going forward and are in a GREAT spot.We are not stopping this train.<
>Arlene
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Lin
Joined: 28 Oct 2002
Posts: 337
Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2003 7:59 am Post subject: Truth
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Well Arlene, I know whose telling the truth! Even in a "good" unit there are things that aren't charted. Omission is the same as lying; it's covering up the truth! <
>Just so you know, this pt. appreciates every thing DEO does. I haven't had to ask for help yet, but knowing that you are here and helping those who do means oh so much. Lin.
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Safe
Joined: 01 Dec 2003
Posts: 1
Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2003 9:06 am Post subject: Inspectors?
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How safe can you be if the inspectors come once every 3-10 years?
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brenda
Joined: 28 Oct 2002
Posts: 103
Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2003 10:30 am Post subject: plus lots of the
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reports have blackened areas........just hiding more things :">
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eyes and ears
Joined: 12 Apr 2003
Posts: 24
Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2003 11:07 am Post subject: DaVita
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The State and DaVita are in cahoots in my area. They did an inspection and there were blatant violations right in front of their eyes such as techs not washing hands, wearing shields etc. and they did nothing about it. There is no enforcement and it's not because the State doesn't know what to look for in something as basic as this. They saw and they went. Are they bought off?
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grandpa
Joined: 01 Dec 2003
Posts: 2
Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2003 11:12 am Post subject: S. CA Davita
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They use small bags for soiled gauze etc that they tape to patients' sidetables. Tell me that this is approved asceptic?! That was fine with the State when we were inspected. Is there a way we can find out if the state considers this a violation?
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patient
Joined: 29 Oct 2002
Posts: 137
Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2003 12:34 pm Post subject: bags
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are they taped to the access side of your chair? are they throwing hazardous materials into the bag? are you having to use it as a sickness basin? just curious.
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grandpa
Joined: 01 Dec 2003
/>Posts: 2
Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2003 12:49 pm Post subject: bags
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Yes access side. They throw the bloodied gauze and tape, stuff they use to prepare your access. Not a sickness basin. When they throw stuff in there, the tips of their gloves sometimes touch the bloodied materials from the previous patient.
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say what
Joined: 11 Mar 2003
Posts: 29
Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2003 2:11 pm Post subject: Inspections
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that is a basic no no! Call the state anonymous. Is it just your litter or other patients. I would by accident pull it off and say OH OH! Tell them this bothers you.
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patient
Joined: 29 Oct 2002
Posts: 137
Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2003 2:30 am Post subject: hazardous materials
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grandpa, you need to notify CMS (Medicare) not the network. what you have explained is they are throwing bio-hazard's in a container that is not specified for such. are needles going into the bags also???
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mole
Joined: 20 Nov 2003
Posts: 7
Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2003 2:10 pm Post subject: INSPECTIONS
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YOU CAN INSPECT EVERY DAY AND IF THE PATIENT ISN,T GETTING PROPER TIME ON THE MACHINE IT MEANS NOTHING. GET TREATMENT STANDARDS PERIOD.
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Lin
Joined: 28 Oct 2002
Posts: 337
Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2003 8:45 am Post subject: Time on
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you can have proper time on the machine, but still be in an unsafe environment. All around adequate care is needed. Inspections are needed and if inadequacies are found the need to be addressed. Too, those who find problems but sweep them under the perverbial carpets need to be fired for not doing their jobs. People in poor units get screwed twice; once because of the poor conditions, and second because tax dollars from all of us are being used to pay inspectors who sit on their patoodies and don't do what they're paid to do. The states that aren't cleaning up need to be exposed, one by one! Lin.
